48% college students under pressure from entrance exams, reveals survey

Entrance exams place mental stress on students, according to a new survey of college students. While 48% felt the exams caused pressure, 24% said they felt pressurised to an extent.

In total, 5,000 students from across 15 city colleges responded to the survey, undertaken as part of an assignment by 13 second year students of St Xavier’s College in Dhobi Talao. Data was collected in July and August.

“Students feel pressured and their identity becomes linked to an entrance test performance,” said Avkash Jadhav, professor in charge of the project.

“And even after cracking a test, the race doesn’t end. Where is our system heading?”

Further, 90% said that teaching in private classes had to some extent taken over college classrooms.

Two weeks ago the education department had said it would conduct an enquiry into how coaching classes had tied up with junior colleges for entrance exam preparations.

Another concern that the poll found was that the system was not practically oriented to an adequate degree, with just 16% of respondents saying it was, 13% saying it wasn’t, and 31% stating that it was, but only to an extent.

“The syllabus is fine, but we need more practical teaching,” said Nevil Mehta, an IT professional who just completed his engineering degree.

The report, based on the sur vey, suggested greater flexibility in choosing subjects, more field trips and industrial experience.

“Most of the students that were part of the survey said that the education system needs a more practical and interactive approach to education,” the professor’s report concluded. “Students want political factors to be eliminated from the education system and it should be based strictly on merit,” it added.